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As the Allies pressed forward both in Europe and the Pacific in the waning days of World War II, a little-known battle took place under the frozen seas off the coast of Norway…and changed the course of the war.

By February of 1944, both Germany and Japan were falling back under constant attack from Allied forces. The end would have been inevitable, if not for a desperate, audacious plan by the German High Command.

The Germans would pack a submarine—boat U-864—with their most advanced rocket and jet aircraft technology, a group of Japanese and German scientists, and tons of mercury for use in missile and torpedo detonation systems. With this, Japan could re-establish air superiority in the Pacific, forcing the Allies to divert troops and material long enough for Germany to re-group and prepare a final defense of the Fatherland.

Unknown to them, British codebreakers, working hand-in-hand with the Norwegian underground, had discovered what the Axis powers were up to. Chasing U-864 and her cargo throughout the North Atlantic, the British bombed German naval bases and hidden installations in an attempt to destroy the submarine and her hidden cargo. But in the end, she was able to head out to sea and attempt to complete her mission.

The British submarine HMS Venturer was waiting for her. In a cat-and-mouse silent battle beneath the waves, they hunted one another, each waiting to strike. The Venturer won the game, sinking U-864 and becoming the only submarine in history to sink another sub in underwater combat.

This is the action-packed, dramatic account of one of the unsung greatest victories in military history, and of a historical moment in the annals of naval warfare.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Reads like a tense thriller, but the authors also keep a steady course on the human aspect of their tale as they reconstruct the events behind this little-known WWII incident and its aftermath."- Publishers Weekly

"For the history buff who's read it all, here's a new book about the little known, one and only underwater sub-on-sub kill in history."- Susannah Cahalan, New York Post

"Written like a first-class war novel, the book examines not only the Axis submarine force but the Allied efforts to neutralize it. Highly recommended for anyone interested in World War II, or submarine warfare in general." - Jim DeFelice, bestselling author of Omar Bradley: General at War and Rangers at Dieppe.

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The book was very interesting but as I was a crew member of H.M.S/M Venturer and was the helmsman at the time of first contact and during the whole attack ,[ the helmsmans position was just a metre or so from the attack periscope] I was in hearing distance of all proceedings . and was required to act on orders of steering given by the officer of the watch and the captainI disagree of some of the details of the attack as given in the book .I details given of the landing in a earlier patrol is very distorted as I was also in the landing party ,the location of the landing of equipment was advised to the captain prior to sailing [we were exercised during the month before] and high tide prevented us from landing as directed but an alternate was chosen and successfully complete , note we did not meet any persons ashore.It was later;: said: the equipment was landed to provide help to those in destroying a heavy water plant for a atom bomb.There was never any reports of diesel engines [so no snorkel], the initial report was a hammering sound which was unusual to the operator this started several discussions between between the operator and the officer of the watch . It was only when the relieving o.o.w. [the first Lt. Lt. Chalmers]. .took the watch that he viewed the Uboats periscope and called Captain to the Control Room and the attack commenced. NOTE the navigator was a Lt R.N. not an Ensign .[ a American term for a junior officer] no American services were involved in the action.Mention was made of seaman Harry Plummer[ a friend of mine] he was o torpedoe operator with T.I.would have fired the fish. He was in the landing party in the earlier patrol with Leading Tel Byrnes and Sub/Lt. Brand.

Regards Robert GOlding P.S the lost copy has arrived after travelling via Hong Kong West Australia across three states to N.S.W. Should I donate it to village library??? thanks for a wonderful service

There is a huge error in listing the torpedo size on the submarine. The text says 71.6mm. This is impossible. German torpedo's were 7163mm in length (23.5 feet long) and 533.4mm in diameter (21 inches diameter). Normally torpedo size is specified in diameter, not length. On top of that, a transport sub carrying that many torpedoes seems strange, to say the least, since it had no hunter mission. Much of that space could have been used for cargo (unless what we know if not the whole story). There is some nice research in the book, but the true story is still incomplete by a long shot.

By Bill Marsano. Here’s the Deal: late in WWII the Nazis plan to send the submarine U-864 to Japan. She is packed with critical war material, personnel and info on Hitler’s ‘wonder weapons.’ The idea is to help the Japanese hold out longer, thus reducing American pressure on Germany. Bletchley Park code-breakers tip off the RAF, whose bombing raid fails, so the Royal Navy positions the submarine HMS Venturer to intercept. So why is this book so dull? One reason is the scrupulous honesty of the authors: they freely admit that Venturer’s commander knows only that he’s being sent where he might find a suitable target. He has absolutely no idea of the importance of his mission, so there is absolutely no suspense involved. There is no ‘hunt’ as such; Venturer is just loitering in the hope a target will happen by, and the whole business occupies a mere two dozen pages. So here is How Not to Write a War Story: 1, if using a title like Code Name Caesar, then Code Name Caesar, or Operation Caesar or even plain old Caesar should appear somewhere at least once in the text, not just on the title page. And you should give its meaning: Was it the Nazi’s name for their exchange program with Japan, or just U-864’s individual sortie? Was it the Allies’ name for their attack? 2. Be accurate. Recognize that Nazi banners were red; only the swastikas were black. The Nazis had no such things as a ‘7.16mm’ torpedo. Schleswig-Holstein is not west of Scandinavia. If range to target is 2500 yards on one page it should not be 2500 FEET on another. U-boats had diesel engines, not steam turbines. D-Day 1944 was June 6th, not 5th. Royal Navy subs did not ‘harangue’ German vessels. Venturer’s deck gun was loaded through the breech, not breach. Lancaster bombers did not mount radial engines or superchargers. Recognize that although it is possible to turn a long magazine article into a short book, it’s not necessarily a good idea. Lists of names irrelevant to the action and of food consumed by crews come under what Elmore Leonard called ‘the parts that readers tend to skip.’ Do not waste pages on an irrelevant and unsuccessful air raid, or the irrelevant but successful raid on Germany’s dams, or the whole history of the Bletchley Park Operation. In short, do not pad the manuscript (even the Chapter Notes are padded with literary excelsior, some of it hilarious). Do not write MUST HAVE or PROBABLY FELT to excuse your speculations about anyon’s unknown emotional state. Aim for more than a pedestrian level of writing, and so spare your reader the snap decisions, the highly coveted shore leave, the long shots, the tempting of fate, and the crack squadrons. Please. And then DO put in the stuff that can put the reader into the picture: diagrams of the attack and of the two submarines involved would be a good place to start. Better photos, too. Otherwise you will have written the dullest war story I can remember.—Bill Marsano is a long-time editor and writer, and a World War II buff into the bargain.

This is a very good book, about an extraordinary event in the history of warfare. Notwithstanding the fact that the author doesn't know port from starboard, it's a very exciting and well-written book. There are several other gaffes in the book, such as, there has NEVER been a 38 mm Flak gun, in any Army or Navy in the world. There WAS a popular AA gun, designed by the famous John Moses Browning, that was in 37 mm.

The story is very interesting if somewhat marred by the disjointed presentation of the story. The characters are portrayed very realistically with sound reference to research material. The sole complaint I had was the back and forth nature of the storytelling that moved to and fro in time and was frequently jarring.

Book was very well written and easy to read. Overall really enjoyed it. Only downside, and why it got 4 stars versus 5 - and this maybe no fault of the author but due to lack of information - is bc the majority of the book is the set up with very few pages of the actual hunt and kill or anything afterwards. Nonetheless, I would still recommend it as I enjoyed it.